Support For Tougher Gun Laws Hits New High Just As Trump Is Sued Over NRA Influence

Support for new gun safety legislation has reached a new high in the United States, according to a new poll released on Thursday.

The Gallup survey found that 51 percent of the country want the federal government to pass tougher firearm regulations, the first time in the poll’s history that a majority of the country has held such an opinion. Even after the deadly mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, just 47 percent of the country had thrown their support behind stricter laws.

The poll was conducted after the massacre in Las Vegas, the most deadly mass shooting in U.S. history, but it was taken before the most recent church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, which killed 26 people.

It also comes as former Rep. Gabby Giffords’ gun safety organization filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its relationship with the National Rifle Association.

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According to the Huffington Post, the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence is “suing the Trump administration for failing to turn over documents that could show the National Rifle Association’s influence over President Donald Trump’s gun policies.”

HuffPo details what documents the gun safety group is seeking:

Specifically, Giffords’ group filed FOIA requests seeking any records relating to Trump administration policies on concealed carry reciprocity, gun silencers, bump stocks and assault weapon exports; evidence that Donald Trump Jr. improperly lobbied on behalf of gun manufacturing companies; communications between gun lobbying groups and senior administration officials following last month’s mass shooting in Las Vegas; and attempts by the NRA to review bump stock regulations in coordination with ATF.

It’s unclear if the documents will eventually be handed over, but it’s telling that it could take a lawsuit for the administration to be forthcoming about its relationship with one of the most influential lobbying groups in the country, particularly at a time when gun violence has been at the forefront.

With blood continuing to spill in schools and churches and movie theaters – in big cities and small towns all across the U.S. – not only is it past due for the Republican-controlled Congress to support common sense gun reform, but it’s also time for the administration to be forthcoming about its relationship with the NRA.

If Donald Trump and his GOP colleagues continue to block reforms that a majority of the country support, the American people deserve to know why.



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